Music for a Found Harmonium (Sharon Shannon version)

In a BHO thread, Mark from Ohio wrote: “I know it's done but is there a place on this site to learn the basics? I like Irish tenor songs but would like to mess around with it.”

Hey, Mark, and folks who are in the same boat ... I'm here to help posters who "would like to mess around with it" and learn the basics. Okay, one can start anywhere, but it's a steep learning curve, to be sure.

This tune I'm blogging about works on both tenor and 5-string banjo. Bear in mind that one must have "beginner's mind" to get anywhere with this music, and it's a never-ending learning process. So, just hang in there, my friend.

Okay, not for purists,haha: I’d like to explore in greater detail one of the more curious tunes that is loved and loathed in Irishtradthese days. Of course, wherever you have people you have politics, and there’s no accounting for taste, especially other people’sbad tastein music.

In Ireland and in the States, I know tune players who love to stretch out on ‘Music for a Found Harmonium’, as well as others who flat-out refuse to play this tune; go figure? It's a lovely tune, and it's great for the stage or to wind down a session, leaving audiences wanting more....

I’ve played and transcribed this tunes lots of different ways over the years, and I have two main templates for it, one in the key of C and one in D (shared here), also a complete harmony part, which I’ll skip over for the time being. I posted a tab for this earlier, and I’ll re-post that below. It’s also in the Tab Archive, under ‘Music for a Found Harmonium (Shannon version)’.

First, here is a template that a lot oftrad– especially box players – tend to use, though it’s almost always played in the session-friendly key of D, based on Sharon adaptation of the tune,Sharon Shannon - Music for a Found Harmonium [Audio Stream](here inEb). Banjo players who enjoy playing trebles and stuttered triplets will have fun with this one. (I play it on the 5-string in Celticfingerstyle, but that’s my choice.)

(I have also arranged in the key of C, closely based on the originalPCOrecording, but that’s not what’s heard attradsessions, at least not in Ireland, so I won’t confuse folks with that syncopated rendition here, as fun as it is. If anyone wants it, please message me privately – no problem forwarding it on. I might put it up in the Tab Archive at some stage, even though it’s in standard.)

Enjoy!

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